Underfloor heating or Big Radiator?

reggie_lampert

We have a 5.25mx3m kitchen diner and I'm concerned that one radiator (fitted near the middle of the 5.25m side) won't heat the whole room adequately enough.

The roof is well insulated (over 100mm) with insulated cavity walls. The floor is a 60's concrete block and beam which will have 5mm insulation with engineered wood flooring. All windows/doors are double glazed.

According to the various calculators we need approx. 5000BTUs (1500W) heat output to heat the space.

We can achieve more than this with a 1800x400mm vertical column radiator or similar.

Do you think this would be enough or would most of the heat just rise leaving the edges of the room chilly.

Should we consider carbon film underfloor heating to supplement it. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is it reliable? Effective? Is it expensive to run?

Thanks in advance!

turniphead_2

definitely go for the radiator. underfloor is fine and should it ever malfunction they have a tool to locate the fault (meaning the whole floor doesn't have to come up!) but there's no real gain to be had for the extra cost.

greyteam1959

Well, my opinion only, that tall radiator in a long narrow room will look a right tw*t.........
Unless you need the 'designer' look I would go for a standard double radiator.
Don't have any experience of floor heating but it sounds expensive !!
HTH

reggie_lampert

thanks Merv! TBH I think the tall column rads are okay. The problem with the shorter/standard radiators are getting one that has the right output.

I should have mentioned that the maximum width for the radiator is 810mm.

greyteam1959

Ah....you never said you only had 900mm !!
I take back my comment about your tall narrow radiator !!

reggie_lampert

At least I'll be warm with my tw*tty radiator!

27col

You say that the roof is well insulated with 100mm. In this day and age that is considered to be inadequate. A recommended level nowadays is 230mm. Of course, if you have a flat roof then you will not be able to increase the thickness of insulation. But it's a thought to bear in mind.

greyteam1959

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Ben84

Kitchens when in use tend to have extra heat from the cooker and hob, so you might not find it needs so much heat from the radiator. However, having a big enough radiator to heat it with or without the cooker being on seems sensible where possible.

However, as a room with other heat emitting items I would want a thermostatic valve on the radiator to reduce overheating. I might also consider a plinth heater attached to the hot water pipes under the cabinets to help blow heat out in to the middle of the room. The cost of running the electric fan would be minimal and depending on heat output it might mean you don't need a radiator or can use a smaller one.

reggie_lampert

27col wrote: »

You say that the roof is well insulated with 100mm. In this day and age that is considered to be inadequate. A recommended level nowadays is 230mm. Of course, if you have a flat roof then you will not be able to increase the thickness of insulation. But it's a thought to bear in mind.

It depends what material you are using to insulate.

It's a new roof with 100mm Kingspan in between the joists with insulation back plasterboard going over that. Although I don't know the exact details off the top of my head I do know that it conforms to Building Regs...or will do if it ever gets finished

Thanks though, you're right to suggest you shouldn't skimp on insulation!

anotherbaldrick

Why not both ? A bit of underfloor to warm the tiles so that when you wander downstairs it feels warm through your slippers and a neater smaller rad. We get some underfloor from the heating pipes running in the screed to our rad's and it does feel nice on a cold morning.